Watching You

A short story by Lance Erlick

At the intersection of global tracking, pervasive networks, mass storage, and the Patriot Act, we have the ability and some say the obligation to know everything about everyone. Can privacy survive? Can the individual endure?

Harold is a second-class citizen and a cog in a government surveillance system charged with reviewing “criminal activity.” He has private thoughts about a woman he’s forbidden from approaching, and he will not be deterred.